Extensible disc player

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides an extensible disc player that is upgradeable to play new content types. The player&#39;s capability can be extended by downloading an appropriate decoder from a web server via the Internet. In this way, the player can play back contents that it does not originally support. If the content type is unknown, the player will check whether the disc contains a URL for linking to a web site containing an appropriate decoder. If the disc contains the URL, the player will access the web site to download the appropriate decoder. In a similar manner, the capability of a recorder can also be expanded by downloading appropriate encoders from the Internet.

This is a continuation of prior application Ser. No. 10/546,721 filedApr. 7, 2006 and is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to disc players, and more particularlyto disc players upgradeable to play new content types.

Optical discs have been widely used to store various types of media,such as audio, data, video, images, animations, etc., which may beencoded in various formats. For example, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, and H26.Lare used for video, MP3 and SACD for audio, and Flash and SVG foranimation. A conventional player typically contains a fixed number ofdecoders that support only a subset of the content types. As a newcontent type is introduced in the market, consumers would have to buynew players with decoders that support the new content type in order toplay discs with this new format. This is very costly for consumers. Theywill have to make a difficult decision of whether to purchase the newplayer now and only to see that it will become obsolete in a matter of afew years or not to buy discs with the new format. If the majority ofthe consumers decide not to buy discs with the new format, it wouldseverely hinder the acceptance of the new format and thus significantlyaffect the development of the new optical storage technology.

Therefore, there is a need to provide a player that not only can playexisting content types, but also may be upgradeable to play new contenttypes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an extensible disc player that isupgradeable to play new content types. The player's capability can beextended by downloading an appropriate decoder from a web server via theInternet. In this way, the player can play back contents that it doesnot originally support.

According to one embodiment of the invention, an extensible disc playeris provided. The player comprises: means for determining a content typeof a content object on a disc; means for checking whether the disccontains a URL for linking to a web site containing an appropriatedecoder, upon determining that the content type is unknown; and meansfor accessing the web site to download the appropriate decoder, uponchecking that the disc contains the URL.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the player alsoincludes means for pre-storing a default URL list containing links toweb sites where pre-selected decoders may be downloaded, and means forchecking whether a URL for the content type exists in the default URLlist.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the player furthercomprises means for accessing the player's manufacturer's web site forsearching an appropriate decoder, upon checking that the URL for thecontent type does not exist in the default URL list.

In accordance with the invention, the capability of a recorder may alsobe expanded by downloading appropriate encoders.

Other objects and attainments together with a fuller understanding ofthe invention will become apparent and appreciated by referring to thefollowing description and claims taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is explained in further detail, and by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an overview of the operation of an extensible disc playerin accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a process performed by anextensible disc player for obtaining an appropriate decoder inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate similar orcorresponding features or functions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows an overview of the operation of an extensible disc player10 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Player 10 can beconnected to the Internet and has the basic protocol stack support forweb access (e.g., HTTP protocol stack). When an optical disc 20 isinserted into player 10, the player will attempt to recognize and playback the contents of the disc. If the player cannot handle the contentformat, it will try to find and download an appropriate decoder from aweb server 30 via the Internet. Some basic information about the playerand the unsupported content object will be included in a request to webserver 30 for finding an appropriate decoder. Such information includes,for example, the player's model number, chipset model number andfrequency, OS version, the content type and version, etc. After thedecoder is downloaded, it is preferably stored in the player, so thatthe player does not have to download it again when the same content typeis recognized next time. Since the storage space in the player islimited, the player can store only those decoders that were mostrecently downloaded and are frequently used, so that decoders that areused less frequently can be overwritten. In a similar manner, a user mayalso change the set of default content types supported by the player bystoring pre-selected decoders in the player. The process of obtaining anappropriate decoder is described in more detail below in conjunctionwith FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a process 100 performed byextensible disc player 10 for obtaining an appropriate decoder inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention. Upon insertion of thedisc into the player, the player will try to present a content object ondisc (step 102) and determine whether it has a content type known to theplayer (step 106). This can be achieved in several ways. One way is toread the Table of Contents (TOC) file on the disc to determine thecontent type. Another way is to use the file extension in the filesystem of the disc to identify the content type. A third way is to reada content description file associated with the content object, e.g., aXML file that describes the content attributes.

If the content type is known to the player, the player will load andrender the content object (step 112). However, if the player does notrecognize the content type, it will try to determine whether a URL forlinking to a web site containing an appropriate decoder is available onthe disc (step 116). If such a URL does not exist on the disc, theplayer will read a default URL list stored in the player (step 122). Thedefault URL list includes some popular decoder manufacturers' web sitesfor this particular content type and is updateable. The player will thencheck whether such a URL is included in the default URL list (step 126).If such a URL does not exist, the player will access the player'smanufacturer portal to find an appropriate decoder (step 132). Thisportal may act as a search engine to allow a user to search for anappropriate decoder, based on certain relevant information such as theplayer's model number, etc. On the other hand, if, at step 116, it isdetermined that the URL exists on the disc, the player will use the URLto access the web site (step 136). The player then determines whetherthe decoder is found (step 142). If it is found, the player willdownload the decoder (step 152) and then start to render the contentobject (step 156).

However, if the decoder is not found, the content object is not playableby the player and the player will prompt the user and skip the contentobject (step 162).

Sometimes in order to play back a content object with a new contenttype, not only the decoder is needed but also necessary protocol stacks(e.g. new streaming protocols) are required. In such a case, the playercan also perform steps similar to the above to download the protocolstacks if they are not on the disc or in the player and run them asplug-in in the player.

Thus, the capability of a playback device, such as a DVD player, can beexpanded by downloading appropriate decoder modules. In a similarmanner, the capability of a recorder, such as a DVD+RW recorder, canalso be expanded by downloading appropriate encoder modules or plug-insfrom the Internet. For example, if a user wants to record data contentsin the H.26L format in a recorder that does not originally supported theformat, a H.26L encoder may be downloaded and used by the recorder.

The principles of the invention can also be used in other types ofplayers that can be connected to the Internet. For example, DVD playersthat support MPV (the MultiPhoto Video standard, with more informationavailable from www.osta.org) disc, PhotoCD players, DivX players, MP3players, etc.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with specificembodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications andvariations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of theforegoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all suchalternatives, modifications and variations as fall within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An extensible disc player, comprising:means for determining a content type of a content object on a disc;means for checking whether the disc contains an address associated withan appropriate decoder, upon determining that the content type isunknown; means for downloading the appropriate decoder upon determiningthat the disc contains the address; means for accessing a pre-storeddefault address list upon determining that the disc does not contain theaddress, said address list containing addresses for obtaining decoderinformation; and means for checking whether an address for the contenttype exists in the default address list.
 2. The player of claim 1,further comprising: means for accessing a predetermined address, saidpredetermined address corresponding to an address associated with amanufacturer of said player, and searching content associated with saidmanufacturer for an appropriate decoder upon checking that the addressfor the content type does not exist in the default address list.
 3. Theplayer of claim 1, further comprising: means for determining whether theappropriate decoder is available; and means for downloading the decoderupon determining that the appropriate decoder is available.
 4. Theplayer of claim 1, further comprising: means for deleting a downloadeddecoder.
 5. The player of, wherein address is a Universal Resourcelocator (URL) associated with a website.
 6. The player of claim 2,wherein the accessing means includes: means for sending a request to thepredetermined address with relevant information about the player and thecontent type.
 7. The player of claim 3, further comprising: means forproviding a notification upon determining that the appropriate decoderis not available.
 8. An extensible playback device, comprising: meansfor determining a content type of a content object, said content objectbeing stored on a data storage element; means for checking whether thedata storage element contains an address associated with an appropriatedecoder, upon determining that the content type is unknown; means fordownloading the appropriate decoder based on the address, upon checkingthat the data storage element contains the address; means for accessinga pre-stored default address list upon determining that the data storageelement does not contain the address, said default address listcontaining addresses where pre-selected decoders may be downloaded; andmeans for checking whether an address for the content type exists in thedefault address list.
 9. The device of claim 8, wherein said address isa Universal Resource Locator (URL) associated with a website.
 10. Thedevice of claim 8, further comprising: means for accessing a defaultaddress, said default address representing an address of a manufacturerof the player upon checking that the address for the content type doesnot exist in the default address list.
 11. The device of claim 10,wherein the accessing means includes: means for sending a request to thedefault address with relevant information about the device and thecontent type.
 12. A method for upgrading a disc player, said methodcomprising: determining a content type of a content object on a disc;checking whether the disc contains an address for linking to a servercontaining an appropriate decoder, if the content type is unknown; andaccessing the server to download the appropriate decoder using theaddress if the disc contains the address, pre-storing a default addresslist containing links to servers where pre-selected decoders may bedownloaded; and checking whether an address for the content type existsin the default address list, if the disc does not contain the address.13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: accessing the player'smanufacturer's server for an appropriate decoder, if the address for thecontent type does not exist in the default address list.
 14. The methodof claim 12, further comprising: determining whether the appropriatedecoder is available from the server; and downloading the decoder if theappropriate decoder is available.
 15. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising a step of: enabling a user to manually delete a downloadeddecoder from the player.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein saidaddress is a Universal Resource locator (URL) of a website associatedwith said server.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein the accessing stepincludes: sending a request to the manufacturer's server with relevantinformation about the player and the content type.
 18. The method ofclaim 14, further comprising a step of: notifying a user if theappropriate decoder is not available from the server.
 19. A method forupgrading a disc recorder comprising: pre-storing a default address listin the recorder that contains links to servers where pre-selectedencoders may be downloaded; determining whether an appropriate encoderis available in the recorder that supports a recording format selectedby a user for recording data contents; checking whether an address forlinking to a server containing the appropriate encoder exists in thedefault address list upon determining that the appropriate encoder isnot available in the recorder; accessing the server to download theappropriate encoder, upon checking that the address exists in thedefault address list; and accessing the recorder's manufacturer's serverfor searching an appropriate encode upon checking that the address doesnot exist in the default address list.
 20. The method of claim 19,wherein the accessing step includes a step of: sending a request to themanufacturer's server with relevant information about the recorder andthe recording format.
 21. The method of claim 19, further comprising astep of: enabling a user to manually delete a downloaded encoder fromthe recorder.
 22. The method of claim 19, wherein said address is aUniversal Resource locator (URL) of a website associated with saidserver.
 23. An extensible playback device, comprising: means fordetermining a content type of a content object on a data storageelement; means for checking whether the data storage element contains anaddress identifying a location containing an appropriate decoder, upondetermining that the content type is unknown; and means for accessingthe identified location to download the appropriate decoder, and meansfor checking whether an address for the content type exists in a defaultaddress list, said default address list containing addresses wheredecoders may be downloaded, and means for accessing a locationassociated with a manufacturer of said playback device, said locationassociated with said manufacturer including an appropriate decoder uponchecking that the address for the content type does not exist in thedefault address list.
 24. The device of claim 23, wherein the datastorage element is a disc.
 25. The device of claim 23, wherein theaccessing includes: sending a request with relevant information aboutthe playback device and the content type.
 26. The device of claim 23,wherein said address is a Universal Resource locator (URL) of a websiteassociated with said server.
 27. The device of claim 24, furthercomprising: means for determining whether the appropriate decoder isavailable; and means for downloading the decoder upon determining thatthe appropriate decoder is available.
 28. The device of claim 25,further comprising: means for enabling a user to manually delete adownloaded decoder from the player.
 29. The device of claim 27, furthercomprising: means for notifying a user upon determining that theappropriate decoder is not available from the server.
 30. A method forupgrading a playback device, comprising: determining a content type of acontent object on a data storage element; checking whether the datastorage element contains an address for linking to a server containingan appropriate decoder, if the content type is unknown; and accessingthe server to download the appropriate decoder using the address, if thedisc contains the address; and checking whether an address for thecontent type exists in a default address list, if the disc does notcontain the address, said default address list including links wheredecoders may be downloaded; and accessing a manufacturer's serverassociated with said playback device for an appropriate decoder when theaddress for the content type does not exist in the default address list.31. The method of claim 30, wherein the accessing step includes a stepof: sending a request with relevant information about the playbackdevice and the content type.
 32. The method of claim 30, wherein saidaddress is a Universal Resource locator (URL) of website associated withsaid server.
 33. The method of claim 31, further comprising: determiningwhether the appropriate decoder is available from the server; anddownloading the decoder if the appropriate decoder is available.
 34. Themethod of claim 33, further comprising a step of; notifying a user ifthe appropriate decoder is not available from the server.
 35. The methodof claim 34, further comprising a step of: enabling a user to manuallydelete a downloaded decoder from the player.